At the back end of last year when we started to have rising levels in Covid19 again and the country was looking at another long lockdown I realised that I was not going to be going anywhere soon and was going to even find myself restricted in travelling around the UK as well. So, I set out on a little project in trying to photograph Garden birds and to be fair I have long been advising people to set up a feeding station in your garden or locally and it was time for me to practice in what I preach. My main goal in the project was to photograph Goldfinches as I had a good size flock in the area, and they would visit a neighbour’s garden on a regular basis. If I put out the right food, I knew I could attract them over the fence so to speak.
Now setting up a winter-feeding station for Garden birds is not complicated but to do so for photography purposes there is a little bit more thought put into it and some key things must be considered. The first one and in my opinion the most important one is the direction of sunlight. Now in my Garden I get exceptionally good light in the late afternoon, so I positioned my set-up to coincide with that. I would have liked to work with early morning light behind me mainly because the birds would visit the feeding station at more regular intervals during the early morning, but I could not get a good enough background from that position. So, the light was a key factor but in my case the background played an equally important role for this project.
As it happened my shooting position for the early morning sessions, I found myself shooting directly into the sun. As the sun started to rise, I started to get some nice backlighting on the Goldfinches. Once the sun started to filter through the hedgerow, I also started to get some wonderful bokeh on the wet leaves in the hedge which added a great dimension to my overall image. It goes to show how you change style over the years because when I used to set up projects like this, I would be obsessed with a super clean background that was completely out of focus and I would have avoided these distractions in the background. As the project progressed, I preferred shooting in these early morning conditions and would be praying for a clear morning.
When you first start feeding the birds in your garden do a bit of research and see what food source is best at attracting which species. My main target was Goldfinches for this project and one of their favourite food sources is Niger seed. You can buy special feeders that hold the Niger seed, and the Goldfinches will start visiting quite quickly but they do not make great perches for them. So, I searched some waste ground near to where I live and found some Teasel plants. The heads of the Teasel make great perches for the Goldfinches and the final shots look very natural in my opinion. The heads of the teasel are also great at holding the Niger seeds as well. I cut the whole plant from the base of the stem and then taped it to a metal pole that was forced into the ground which made it a very solid perch.
The other species I had hoped to attract was Robin, Blue and Great Tits and Long-tailed Tit. I put out some mixed seed which is designed for attracting a range of species, some dried mealworms which Robins and Blackbirds love. For the Long-tailed Tit I used some suet/fat balls which they cannot resist. Although I had a few visits from Long-tailed Tits I could not attract them on a regular basis. It was a shame as they are a cracking bird. I think I started the project too late in the winter and should have started it in the Autumn when you get the family flocks moving around. They just settle into a routine I guess, and it then becomes hard to break it. I could hear them when I was sat in the hide, but they just would not come in long enough for me to photograph them. Ah well I see another target this Autumn.
The Goldfinches were playing ball though and I had some great sessions in the hide with these charming little birds. By having the feeding station in my Garden, I could react quickly to the lighting conditions on the given day, and I had some beautiful light to work in. I was really hoping for some frosty conditions and some snow showers too. I had a couple of good sessions with some falling snow which is always a nice bonus.
I mainly concentrated on the Goldfinches in this project, but I did get a few other regulars coming to the feeding station. Blackbirds were ever present and dominated the table and every now and then I had a visit from a Wood pigeon. I would have liked a few more species but like I said I started it too late really and I will be looking at re-starting the project in the Autumn. It is amazing what you can achieve in your own garden and I also set out on a project to photograph the local frogs in the garden pond during lockdown so look out for this topic in my next blog. I have also made a video of this Garden Bird project which will explain my techniques on how I do it so I will post it on to my site over the next few weeks.
